pmsumner

Friday night, Jane and I attended the Chester Whisky Shop's Burns night dinner. There wasn't much Burns-i-ness, but there was a quiz, there was whisky, and there was haggis! There was an ancient Campeltown, somewhere around 35-40yrs old. It had been blended with a younger single malt to bring it up to the required ABV, but oh MY it was sweet. Very subtle and easy drinking, and at £50/bottle I can understand why.

We won one portion of the quiz, and as a prize were given some whisky samples - cask strength, single barrel, in bottles that look suspiciously like specimen bottles! Distillieries and bottlings to follow. Nomminess shall surely be had.

Then on Saturday, there was the Manchester Winter Ales Festival with some people from work. This was lots of fun, though after having been there since half one, at about 7pm I decided it really was time to leave. Considering I didn't get home until about 10pm, I am very very glad I did leave then!

The beers were brilliant, the new venue's much better than the Co-Op building, a huge room and 4 bars + a separate cider and perry bar. There's more beer than I knew what to do with. Oh and the German beers! Nom. Including one that smelled and tasted suspiciously like smoked cheese and was 9.5%. It was so good.